


The Sound of the Bells

by VioletEyedJedi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Ben’s spin the lightsaber kiss, F/M, Possible ROKR spoilers, Post canon fix-it, Post-TRoS, Roselo besties, Time Travel Fix-It, kimi no na wa, literally everything else is a spoiler sssshhhhhh, your name
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22731538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletEyedJedi/pseuds/VioletEyedJedi
Summary: Months after the battle of Exogol, Rey is still on Tattooine, desperately trying to communicate with Ben Solo’s spirit. One night, however, she starts having strange dreams about him, and as time goes on, she starts to learn more about his life at the Jedi temple…Ben Solo doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He keeps having strange dreams of a girl in the desert, clad in white and carrying a golden saber. She calls herself Skywalker, but he’s never met her…so why does she feel so familiar?Post TROS story insp. by The 2016 film Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa) Dir. Makoto Shinkai
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	The Sound of the Bells

**Author's Note:**

> It’s been quite a few years since I’ve written any fanfiction, so enjoy! The idea came from all of the “Your Name” reylo redraws I’ve been posting on twitter.

Most nights on Jakku, Rey stayed curled up in her bed, eyes wide, and desperate to sleep. In one hand, she would clutch her thin black blanket, hoping to conserve enough warmth to get her through the night. In the other, she would hold her small silver bell. She’d found it one day in amongst her things; perhaps she’d picked it up when from that time she found the captain’s private quarters on the star destroyer. It was covered in dust and scratches, but when she shook it, the soft ring would comfort her.

Sometimes, when that metal box became too much to bear, Rey would wrap herself in her blanket and sit outside. She would lean against the wall for hours, letting the blanket drape around her shoulders while she held the bell between her fingers. The skies above were often clear, and the stars twinkled above her head in every colour imaginable.

When she looked over the dunes, she would often see a thin plume of smoke coming from the outpost. The older scavengers liked to sit around the bonfire with the passing travellers, sharing stories of times long ago, and singing songs of their ancestors with the half-broken instruments they found in old Empire ships. She used to sneak up there and listen to their tales, hiding behind the tent flaps while the drunken men and women sang legends of the peaceful Jedi and the monstrous Sith.

She stopped going some time ago. One of the travellers broke in when she was out. Luckily, she caught him before he had the chance to steal any of her things, but she didn’t want to risk any of the others finding out.

As the stars shined above her head, she would shake the bell in her hands and sing to herself, letting the breeze carry her voice up to the sky.

Sometimes, she would try count the stars. There were an incomprehensible number of them, each one a different sun, a different planet, even a galaxy.

Every time she counted them, however, she made sure to find the two bright stars in the east. One glowed a soft golden hue, the colour of dawn. The other one emitted a blue light as clear as the afternoon sky.

So many lights in the sky, but she always seemed to focus on those two. Perhaps it was childish of her, but she wanted to believe that someone in the universe was looking after her. She wanted to believe that some person, some god, some force was making her a promise.

_You are not alone._

_* * *_

Luke stood on a large platform above his students, holding a wooden practice sword behind his back. The rain poured heavily around the students, and Rey shivered as the drops fell in greater and greater number, soaking her dark hair.

“Both of you, remember to keep your arms straight. Voe, don’t attack with rage. It makes you sloppy. Remember, this is a dance. Let the Force flow through you, and use it to track each other’s movements.”

Rey turned expectantly to Voe, who grimaced and brushed her white locks away from her face. She turned towards her and sneered, readying her sword above her head. An easy parry, as long as she timed it right. With a nod, she raised her sword in front of her, straightening her arms as her uncle instructed.

“Again!”

Voe lunged at her with a furious cry, but Rey simply grinned and jumped to her left, then turned her sword to disarm hers. In a few swift motions, she knocked the wood out of Voe’s hands, drove the side of the wrist into her elbow, then let her fall backwards onto the grass.

“That was good,” she said enthusiastically, offering her hand to the irl.

Voe snarled and shoved it aside. “Screw you,” she muttered, climbing to her feet. Furious, she went to pick up her sword, then stomped off. The others cleared a path for her.

The side of Rey’s mouth twitched, and she turned back to her master, wondering why she would react like that. Jedi weren’t supposed to get angry.

He simply frowned, then told the next two students to ready themselves for the next bout.

* * *

“Aaaaghh, why can’t I do this?!”

Mithra was having trouble with the stones again. No matter how hard she tried, they would only budge slightly, never leaving the earth. Everyone knew that she was struggling—she was the temple’s newest student, a young Echani girl with pale blue skin and hair the colour of starlight. Everyone knew she’d been recruited for her extraordinary combat skills—Luke attributed her ability to predict her opponent’s moves to her Force sensitivity—but she was terrible at the spiritual side of Jedi training.

Rey let her stones fall and shuffled closer to the girl. She nudged her quietly. “It’s not about lifting rocks,” she whispered. When she didn’t even glance in her direction, she exhaled and covered the girl’s pale hand.

Mithra whirled around and slapped her hand away. “What are you doing?!”

Rey raised an eyebrow at that comment, wondering why she’d react in that way. Voe, who was sitting nearby, turned towards her with a deathly glare. _Right_ , she remembered. Everyone thought she was an arrogant loner. In what universe would she help out a newbie?

“ _Listen_ ,” she said through gritted teeth. “You won’t get anywhere if you only think about moving a single solid object. Focus on the Force itself, and how it moves between everything, how it binds the universe together.”

When Mithra’s expression failed to change, Rey pulled back and reached for the nearest black stone. She needed to change up her teaching method.

“Try to visualize it as a series of threads hanging in the air. You’re not picking up the rock itself, you’re just manipulating the threads so that they do all of the work.”

To demonstrate, she extended her fingers, feeling the energy run through her fingertips. The stone responded immediately, floating up to eye level.

“Got it?” She asked.

Mithra paused, then quickly nodded.

“Good,” she said. The stone dropped, and she caught it in her hand, then handed it back to the girl.

Mithra readjusted herself, then placed her hands by her side and closed her eyes. The stone in front of her feet trembled slightly, then slowly levitated until it was floating in front of her head. When that happened, she opened her eyes and smiled widely at the stone. It fell back into the grass, and she turned to meet Rey’s eyes.

“Thank you!” She said. “You’re a lot nicer today.”

The girl’s comment startled her, but she kept her expression neutral as she returned to her spot. She spent the next few minutes pondering Mithra’s words when she felt a warm hand press on her shoulder.

“Everything okay?”

She turned around to see uncle Luke looking down at her, his face laced with concern.

Rey flushed. “Y—yes Master Luke, I’m fine.”

* * *

They ate their lunches together by the cliffside, sitting on the fresh green grass at the foot of Luke’s private hut. It was a good place to talk alone, Rey realized. It felt nice to let her long legs hang over the edge while the waves lulled against the rocks below. On the steps of the hut behind them, the bells that the students had hung up for Life Day rang quietly in the afternoon breeze. Nearby, she heard laughter erupting from the rest of the students, who were eating their meals in a circle.

Rey picked at her food absentmindedly, while her thoughts drifted with the wind. Something felt off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Hey, so I was thinking that maybe after lunch, you could help me figure out my holocron. It’s ridiculous, I feel like I’m the only one here who doesn’t understand that side of things, and Hennix doesn’t want to help until he finishes his own work.” Tai said in between bites.

“Mhmm” Rey mumbled, only half-listening. Her eyes were glued to the pieces of fish and lettuce on her plate, and she suddenly felt extremely fatigued. Even in the back of her head, she could hear a strange ringing, though it wasn’t coming from the hut.

“Hey,” He said, nudging her. She looked up and turned to meet his gaze. “Are you feeling alright?”

Rey nodded, but suddenly found herself drawn to the boy’s piercing blue eyes. They reminded her of something, an image from long ago. A bright star.

“I’m okay!” She exclaimed nervously, returning to her food.

“Ben.”

Rey froze and turned again to see Tai’s face inches from her own. He leaned forward to squint for a moment, then pulled back and gasped.

“You’re not him, are you?”

* * *

Rey awoke with a start. She shot up in her bed, sheets flying everywhere. Her face was covered in beads of sweat, and her heart was pounding through her chest. As she sat, panting, a strange feeling rose up within her.

This wasn’t the first time. She was all-too familiar with that feeling. The way it would linger for hours on end, and eat away at her spirit at all hours of that day.

Loss. Mourning. That emptiness inside her. The realization that she was completely and totally alone.

Well…not quite.

BB-8 leaned against the side of her bed, tilting his head so that his antenna brushed against her foot. He let out a few curious beeps.

“I’m fine,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes. “Just a dream.”

The droid let out an unconvinced beep and rolled towards the kitchen. _Fine, but get yourself ready. I’ll heat up your food from yesterday._

Rey smiled softly as he left the room, then turned to stare at the stone wall opposite her bed. She’d started marking it a week after she first came to Tattooine. She was up to fifty lines now. Fifty days since she’d travelled to this dead planet. Fifty days since she’d buried the sabres.

Rey had told the others that she was only planning on travelling there for a pilgrimage. Supposedly, she could gain some Jedi wisdom at the ancestral home of the Skywalkers. That mighty dynasty that produced Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. Of course, very few people knew that the family had only existed for four generations. Three of them had produced Jedi. All of them were now dead.

Truth be told, she needed some time to herself. The war was over, and most of the Resistance members had devoted themselves to rebuilding the galactic republic. The rest were getting on with their lives. Poe was about to be voted in as the head senator, and Finn was finally starting up his new rehabilitation program for former First Order troopers. They’d also started dating, which Finn excitedly told her before she left for Tattooine. Rose, meanwhile, had moved to Coruscant to start a small ship repair shop. She’d let slip during one call that she had started seeing a guy, but when Rey asked for their name, Rose froze. Her face flushed, she started stuttering, then she abruptly turned off the holo.

Rey’s hand moved towards the table beside her bed, covered in the Jedi texts, and she clutched the small silver bell perched on top. After all this time it was still with her, even though it was rusted beyond repair and couldn’t make music anymore.

From the other room, she heard a series of frustrated beeps.

“I’m up!” She exclaimed, planting her feet on the sandy floor. Most days, the little droid was her only companion, and he didn’t want her to waste away in the sand. It was a small comfort at first, having a friend by her side, but over the past few weeks his presence had become sort of a nuisance. Chewie was due to visit her again soon, maybe she’d ask him to bring BB back to Poe. Give her some time to herself.

With a sigh, Rey went to the mirror in the corner of her room and started tying her hair up into the three buns from her Jakku days.

As she was finishing the bottom, however, she blinked and stared at her reflection, then felt a stray tear fall down her cheek.

She shook her head and wiped it away. No, _no,_ she promised herself she wouldn’t cry again. She had to move on. What happened wasn’t her fault, it was _his_ choice. He saved her life, and now he was at peace with his family.

He brought her back, and she had to honour that. She had to live for both of them.

In that fateful moment, he willingly sacrificed himself for her. He kissed her. He _loved_ her.

So _why? Why_ did he have to die? They were a dyad, two that are one. They had enough power to bring back the _Emperor_ , but not enough to live together? Not even enough to communicate after death?

The thought made her lip quiver, and she glanced down at the black sweater wrapped around her chest. Fifty days, and his ghost hadn’t appeared to her.

She spent so many nights meditating under the starry sky, trying with all her heart to summon his spirit…but he never came. She’d even tried screaming at the sky, begging the Force to let him come back, offering her own life in payment…but she was always met with silence.

None of the other Jedi had appeared to her either, save for Luke and Leia, but she told them to leave her alone after her first day at the homestead. The sight of them was too painful, especially since she knew that Han couldn’t be there with them.

Strangely, they didn’t know why Ben wasn’t appearing either. Leia, of course, tried to stay hopeful. She said that she could feel her son’s presence, but figured he wouldn’t show himself until he was ready. Luke gave her a non-answer about fate and the mysteries of the Force. She didn’t press on, his tone told her that he didn’t know the answer. Or maybe he felt guilty about the way things had ended between him and Ben.

Part of her resented them, as well as the rest of the Jedi. They never helped him. Not when he fell for Snoke’s machinations, and certainly not when he was thrown into that pit. Did they all think he was simply fated to fall?

She didn’t say it aloud, but all that Rey wanted was to leave the Jedi behind her and settle down like a normal woman. She was sick of being a vessel for the ghosts and their order, whether figuratively, or—as with that fateful moment on Exogol—literally. But she knew that they would never allow it. She had to rebuild the order. Starting a family? That wasn’t _her_ fate, as the ghosts so eloquently put it.

 _Fate. Destiny._ She hated those words.

Rey pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, then tightened her buns and examined her hair in the mirror. It held up alright. She was about to walk towards the kitchen to make some food when she stopped suddenly, realizing that something was different.

There, by the mirror, she saw a cluster of marks—no, it was a series of words—etched into stone with the precision of a skilled calligrapher.

The message made her blood run cold.

_Who are you?_


End file.
